Pakistan has placed an advertisement in the US media to reach out to America on 9/11. "Which country can do more for your peace", asks the advertisement in the Wall Street Journal . "Since 2001, a nation of 180 million has been fighting for the future of the world's 7 billion."

Dawn reported that Islamabad had initially given this advertisement to The New York Times but they refused to carry it. The ad says that since Sept 11, 2001, 21,672 Pakistani civilians have lost their lives. The army also has lost 2,795 soldiers. The country has lost $68 billion. The ad noted that despite sacrifices the country was still engaged in "the war for world peace". "Can any other country do so? Only Pakistan," it maintained.

It was not clear whether the ad was carried in other U.S. publications. Pakistan’s government also tried to place it in the New York Times. The Times asked for “more clarity in the ad about who was placing it,” according to a spokeswoman for the newspaper. The Times did not hear back from the government and so has not yet run the ad, she said.

The ad as printed in the Journal carries a line at the bottom in small font saying “Government of Pakistan” next to a web address for the government. A spokeswoman for the Journal declined to comment.

Well, our sources inform us that the problem about the source of the ad arose because neither the Pakistan Embassy in Washington nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) nor the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MoI&B) were the sources of the ad. In fact, our sources confirm that none of these three Pakistani government entities was even consulted about the ad. In fact, the ad, designed by the Pakistani advertising agency Midas, was placed directly from the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

But what does it say about the Pakistani State if its organs feel they need to bypass each other to get a point across that, ostensibly, all of them should be agreed upon? What does it say about how policies are made and implemented?

Out here in the US, most residents, including many Pakistani citizens residing here, are apprehensive of Pakistan's business of terror export. However, US's compulsions to maintain a base in the region also needs to be understood. It is an arrangement of convenience, and will be interesting to see who finally ends up in the pits.....